Average age of first-time mothers is now 30 - how old were you?

25. He was a very well-timed accident. Sometimes I wish we had travelled even more before having children but we went on all sorts of fantastic holidays with the children when they were very small and have generally missed out on nothing.

I will (fingers crossed that everything goes well) be 33 when I give birth, just a month before my 34th birthday.

I am way behind all my school friends in rural Gloucestershire but way ahead my friends of a similar age in London (however many of these are men who have married younger women).

I was not financially or mentally prepared in my 20s, this feels scary but right.

29

35

36 and my group of uni friends seem to have their first child around their mid 30s.
I wouldn't consider it until I was gone 30 as I wasn't doing a great job of looking after myself, never mind a baby.
However I have found the change in my priorities and identity difficult to deal with. I think if I'd become a mum younger, I might have coped with the transition to motherhood better.

37. Would have liked it to be a little earlier but it didn't work out that way. 4 years of ttc & a round of IVF helped

23 - carefully planned, Ds1 arrived 2 weeks after graduating from med school - generally assumed to have been an accident! Glad we didn't wait too long (sizeable age gap, stable relationship and I'd been broody from about 14).

44

I was 31 when I had DC1, 33 when DC2 was born and will be 36 when DC3 (definitely my last!) arrives in December.

I remember walking down the street with DH when DC1 was a few months old - we were both incredulous that we hadn't started a family sooner. At that point we wished we had as we felt that nothing that had gone before (lots of amazing travelling, dream job, great social life etc etc) was anywhere near as fantastic as being a parent.

Fast forward a few years (plus many many sleepless nights, tantrums, illnesses, sibling fights etc etc) and I'm VERY glad we waited until we did I love being a Mum, I love my DC beyond measure and wouldn't be without them, but I do miss some parts of my pre-DC life and I'm glad I had that child-free time.

The day before my 33rd birthday! The baby was a fab birthday present. The stitches... not so much.

I was a first time mum at 30

35

I was almost 40. Not ideal to leave it so late but life doesn't always follow our plans!

Esther I'm also yet to meet a teen parent who is anything like the stereotypes!

The nursery is incredible and I know she'll be so happy there, she's so sociable and loves seeing other babies. It's my own guilt I'm trying to fight against, because people have said I'm putting her there to forget I've had a baby and get on with my life... when actually I'm trying to build a better life for her!

30 on the dot!

28. It wasn't planned but I felt ready, if still like a bit of a kid :) I'm glad it wasn't much earlier - anytime after 26 would have been fine for me personally, but 28 was pretty perfect. I've just turned 31 and am pregnant with DC2. I don't want to do it again after this and I hope that's not famous last words!

Moomin DD was more or less the same age as yours when she started nursery. If it was 'wrong' to leave them that young, it wouldn't be an option!

The self justification thing is sad. I spent so long saying "But I am still doing this and that!" that I became absorbed with proving myself. It sucked so much of the joy from early motherhood. Then there's that thing when people say "But you're not like those teen parents. You're different." as if it's a compliment. Which teen parents are they talking about? The ones in the Daily Mail? Because I'm yet to meet one of those!

I think it's interesting to compare my experience with my two best friends at school.

I had my first at 29, so about average for now but later than average for the time, 21 years ago. One of my friends had her first at 21 (and is now a grandmother), and the other had her first and only child at 44.

We were all born within six months of each other, but there is an age range of 23 years between the eldest child and the youngest.

40 & 41.At 39 I told new dp that we should get on with ttc as news stories saying it could take years. ..was pregnant within 2 weeks

If I were 42 when I'd had my first, I might have struggled to have any more - I had my last period at 46 and seem to have gone through the menopause already.

I was 32.

The timing felt just right for me; career in a good place, done with all the partying, with a stable partner, but still young enough not to have too many fertility worries or "shit, let's get on with it!" panics. I still felt I had plenty of time ahead to have additional children (and I did...).

Any worries about being an older mum were immediately dispelled when I started NCT classes; five out of the six of us were also 32.

I was 22 with my first 25 with the second and 28 the third.

Am 16 weeks along with %231 and all going well I'll be 35+9months.

Would love to have had my family younger, and I always longed for a big family of 4-5 but DH and I married when I was 32 and I've had 3 miscarriages before this pregnancy.

Feeling blessed to be this far along but I wish I had more time on my side to leave a bigger gap before hopefully ttc %232 and %233.